Jobless Rate Stagnating at 9.1 Percent

Friday, November 18, 2011

UCS News Service

TheU.S. unemployment rate in September held at 9.1 percent for the third straight month, the Department of Labor reported Oct. 7.

Of about 100,000 new jobs “created” over the month—nowhere near enough to keep pace with the expanding labor force of 150 million—45,000 were in fact those of returning Verizon strikers. Economists say payrolls have to expand by 150,000 positions a month just to keep the jobless rate from rising.

Private employment increased 137,000 during September, a bump up from August’s 42,000, but government payrolls fell 34,000 as employment at the local government level fell 35,000 and the Postal Service shed 5,000 positions.

It offers little hope for the millions of workers looking for fulltime jobs, but the holiday shopping season traditionally opens up a huge number of temporary retail and related positions.